The electronics industry has spent the last decade packing more and more function into less space. In order to facilitate that continued trend, innovative ways to extract heat from the integrated circuits have come to the fore. These approaches adhere a metal heat spreader to the integrated circuit with a thermal epoxy. The thermal path, established by this mechanism, removes heat generated by the integrated circuit from the package. This is an essential function and has a direct impact on the reliability of the integrated circuit.
In the manufacturing process, heat spreaders are formed by stamping or forging a single sheet of metal into an array of heat spreaders. The single sheet may yield tens or hundreds of heat spreaders. Each of the heat spreaders has the same contour and as they are separated from the sheet, they are stacked to reduce storage space and prepare them for the assembly process.
During assembly, the heat spreaders are singly selected from the stack for package attach. Occasionally the heat spreaders stick together in groups of two or more, causing a malfunction in the assembly line. The assembly line malfunctions may damage the package product or the assembly equipment. The sticking is promoted by the duplicate contours of the heat spreaders and sometimes the surface finish. The weight of the stack of heat spreaders tends to bend the lower devices in the stack causing a locking of forms in the heat spreader. An occurrence of the sticking issue may cause productivity loss, due to stopping the assembly machines, or yield loss due to damage sustained by the substrate or the integrated circuit.
Thus, a need still remains for an integrated circuit heat spreader stacking system. In view of the essential nature of the heat spreader and the demand for more function packed into the circuitry, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems. In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is critical that solutions be found to resolve these issues. Additionally, the need to save costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures, adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.